Our dog Ally is 8 years old & we have had her since she was approx 11 weeks old. She is a beautiful Shepard/Husky mix she has been an amazing dog - so smart, easy to train & the perfect mix of cuddly & independent! She's been behaving a little strange though & I'm a little worried about her :/

About 2 years ago, my husband & I went on vacation for a week & a friend stayed at our house with Ally. This is TMI, but on that trip, I stopped using birth control. When we got home, Ally wouldn't have anything to do with me for about 3 weeks. She would just stare at me like I was an imposter. I figured that she was responding to the difference in my hormones or something... After 3 weeks, she went back to being normal with me. But that wasn't the only weird thing - after we got back from our trip, she was afraid of our cell phones! Not when they would ring, just when we would get notifications like a text message. And this behavior has remained for the past 2 years! If I get a text, she jumps up, runs from the room while mean-mugging my phone! We have tried different tones and everything - she gets freaked out no matter what the noise is. This was just the beginning of her strange behavior...

We moved to Las Vegas about a year ago & she now acts scared when the washer/dryer are running. She pants, is very restless, acts completely freaked out, & won't leave my side! I try to keep her outside while I'm doing laundry but that's really only an option during winter since it's so hot here. There are times though that she will act that way when no appliances (or phone) are being used... We just don't know what is causing this anxiety!!!

Her health has been good & she's at a good weight - the only thing that has changed is that last year she was diagnosed w/a thyroid condition & is on 2 pills a day for that. She gets bloodwork every 6 months for that. She is up-to-date on all her vaccinations...

Did you go on line and find out what the side effects of the meds have on dogs? Some meds can made a dog act strange. Ally may had been upset will you for leaving her . My dog gave me the cold shoulder for 2 days when I brought him to grooming and daycare for the day. Boy I was in the dog house.

There might be a lot of missing info. to speculate, buuut my instinct is on the same page as BD, that these behaviour changes might well be due to your absence. Your first house sitter may have received loud text noises and possibly this freaked out your dog and he hasn't gotten over it.

Now the washer/dryer is causing stress. Hmmmmm.

I might try desensitization.

Record the noises that freak the dog out. And play them back at a gradually increasing volume while the dog is doing something it loves. Just a thought.